Advice and Resources for Night Shift Nurses (Podcast)

Most experienced nurses have worked the night shift at some point during their careers. While that shift poses challenges to sleep schedules, it also offers advantages, such as the opportunity to truly work at the top of your license and form strong connections with the rest of the interprofessional team.

“I feel like we all got to know each other well, and I could always look out the room or down the hall and I would find a friendly face to help me,” says Roberta Snyder, MSN, RN, who worked a rotating shift, then night shift as a clinical nurse in the cardiac step-down unit at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus at the start of her career. “[Night shifts] really build the team, and I like that close-knit feeling in a working environment.”

Snyder, who now works 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. as assistant nurse manager in the emergency department at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital, discusses night shift nursing in the latest episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Essentials podcast. She delves into:

• The pros and cons of working nights
• Resources available to night shift nurses
• Advice for getting solid sleep during the day and remaining alert at night
• Tips for leaders to best support night shift nurses and ensure their voice is heard
• How day shift and night shift caregivers can set up one another for success

Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now, or read on for a short, edited excerpt. Check out more Nurse Essentials episodes at my.clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/nurse-essentials or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast excerpt

Podcast host Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC: If we're talking to somebody who's rotating or they're coming to night shift and they're worried about having what could seem like less support, talk to me a little bit about how those supports show up in different ways in night shift.

Snyder: So, I think you just always kind of have to remember you're not really by yourself, even though it does feel like that sometimes. I feel like it's good to remember there's always someone to call, whether that is the nurse next to you or in the next assignment. You always have to remember, too, you can call on your assistant nurse manager if they are in the evening. You can always call the NOM [nursing operations manager].

Sometimes I would just call the ICU if I had a question. I would just call the ICU and say, ‘Hey, I don't know this piece of equipment. Can you either have a minute to come down or can you tell me quickly over the phone how that would work?’

And then I just feel like you have to remember your resources. So, you could call pharmacy if you have a medication question. You can call respiratory if you have a respiratory question. I feel like, generally, people are more than willing to help. You just have to remember who is available to answer.

Pehotsky: And asking your colleagues, too, if you're not sure who is involved. Just because the resource isn't physically on the unit with you, all these departments are 24/7 as well and are available. They want to answer your questions. They don't want you to guess.